Friday, February 27, 2009

Beach House's hazy and haunting cover of Queen's "Play the Game" was inexplicably left off of the physical release of the recent Dark Was The Night charity compilation, only to be later tacked on as an "album only" bonus track that can only be had at this point by purchasing the entire thing from iTunes. Or, you could just take a listen at the duo's myspace page.

Beach House will play a number of great bills at SXSW, including the Blackberry Showcase with Grizzly Bear, Peter Bjorn & John, Dinosaur, Jr. and more at Cedar Street Courtyard on Friday, March 20.

Our weekly Sirius XM Blog Radio show airs today at noon Eastern (and again at midnight) on Sirius XMU. This week's episode features brand new music from Phoenix, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Dum Dum Girls, the Mayfair Set, DOOM, Vivian Girls, and more. You can listen online with a free trial here. Check this week's playlist + some mp3safter the jump...

Here's a new Kanye West-produced Kid Cudi song, taken from Cudi's upcoming album, which Kanye calls "a classic in the making!" The bad news: you have to watch this Transformers trailer to hear it. Is it just me or does this track feel a little awkwardly misplaced amidst all the explosions and revenge and Shia Labeouf?

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Our good friend Justin Gage, proprietor of Autumn Tone Records and founder of L.A.'s best music blog, has recruited some of the finest bands from his hometown of Los Angeles to cover the twelve songs that make up Paul McCartney's classic 1971 solo release, RAM. The ambitious, not-for-profit compilation project, appropriately titled RAM On L.A., features stellar, inspired contributions from Earlimart, Radar Bros., Le Switch, Amnion, the Broken West, and more, including this perfect rendition of McCartney's "Dear Boy" from one of my own favorite L.A. bands, Bodies of Water.

The not-for-profit RAM on L.A. compilation will be released as a FREE, high-quality download next week at Aquarium Drunkard. Listeners are encouraged to make donations to No More Landmines, a cause that "helps and empowers communities around the world by removing the threat of landmines and unexploded weapons."

Monday, February 23, 2009

Alright, last Dum Dum Girls-related post for at least a minute, but she continues to put out such consistently exquisite and irresistible fuzzed-out hits at an uncanny rate, and honestly, it's all I've been listening to lately (well, that and the new DOOM promo I just got in the mail). This charged-up new song, which will appear on an upcoming 4-way split 7" due out soon on Art Fag, showcases the kind of subtly amazing harmonies that Ms. DDG seems to nail every time:

Phoenix has made the instantly catchy new single from their upcoming record available for free download at their website, just in time for spring (70+ degrees in Dallas all week, holler). The band's new LP, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, is out May 25.

We remain floored by the Mayfair Set's remarkably warm and haunting lo-fi pop, and the group now has two new songs on myspace that are every bit as amazing as the two songs we talked about last week. Also, check out an interview with Dum Dum Girls (the West Coast half of the bicoastal Mayfair Set), and download her perfect "Jail La La" here.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Hyperdub founder and dubstep luminary Kode9 played an hour-long "hyperdub label showcase" on BBC Radio late last night/early this morning. In addition to spinning some super tight unreleased new stuff coming soon on the label, dude inconspicuously dropped the world premiere of a couple new untitled and unfinished Burial tunes into his set. According to Kode9, they'll appear on Burial's new LP, due sometime this year. Listen here; first one starts right around the 1:32 mark, and the second one comes in at about 1:40:30.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Here's the new, So Me-directed clip for Kid Cudi's stoner's anthem lament (and one of my favorite songs of '08), "Day n Nite." I didn't see anything wrong with the first (unapproved) version, but Cudi definitely wasn't a fan. And apparently he knows best, because this one is definitely better:

Vibes is a new Not Not Fun "all-star band," fronted by Amanda from Pocahaunted. Amanda says their rad debut cassette release You God It is intended "for all lovers of soul, soul funk, funk, funk rock, classic funk, and outsider funkadelics." If you're into groups like Pocahaunted, Sun Araw, Ducktails, and the like, there's pretty much no way you won't love these hypnotic garage soul jams. Edition of 100, of which the label is sold out, but you might still be able to find it places.

Our weekly Sirius XM Blog Radio show airs today at noon Eastern (and again at midnight) on Sirius XMU. This week's episode features brand new music from the Mayfair Set, Bosque Brown, Woods, the Bitters, Weird Tapes, Dum Dum Girls, and more. You can listen online with a free trial here. Check this week's playlist + some mp3safter the jump...

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

WAVVES is in the midst of his (their) first ever European tour, and our good friend Pete Ohs is along for the ride, shooting for some secret upcoming film project he's working on. Pete is also documenting Nathan Williams' trip for us via Polaroid machine; here are some of his shots from the first leg of the month-long tour:

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Secretive disco-pop duo the Golden Filter have put out their first physical release via Dummy Mag's fledgling record label. In a distribution model that we can all get behind, the "Solid Gold" single is available for purchase in physical form as a vinyl 7" here (b/w new song "Favourite Things"), or you can buy a DJ-quality bundle of the single + 4 remixes from Beatport, or you can download it all for free in standard quality mp3 format here.

The 7" is extremely limited, and -- despite the shitty exchange rate -- can be had for under 10 bucks, shipped to the U.S. In related news, check the group's awesome photo blog, and make sure to catch them at Gorilla vs. Booze III during SXSW.

The Mayfair Set is the new collaborative project from Brooklyn's Blank Dogs + L.A.'s Dum Dum Girls, apparently named after a 1999 Adam Curtis-produced BBC documentary series. They haven't released anything quite yet, and their myspace page is only about two weeks old, but the group was nice enough to send over these tracks from their upcoming 7", due out very soon on Captured Tracks. We are totally in love with both of these songs, which combine Blank Dogs' dark, Joy Division-like baritone with DDG's bright, shimmering, '60s informed vocal melodies to create a warm sound that is at once haunting and hopeful.

2009 has been an overwhelmingly great year for exciting new music so far, and it seems like an unfairly disproportionate amount of it is being released via Brooklyn label Captured Tracks. In addition to releases from Dum Dum Girls, Blank Dogs, the Mayfair Set (seriously, listen to this band now), Little Girls, Christmas Island, the Procedure Club, Brilliant Colors, etc., come these two amazing new 7"s from Woods and the Bitters:

The Bitters is the new project of Ben Cook (of Fucked Up) and Aerin Fogel, "formed pissing on tigers and wintry road trips to elven hollows, maintained being/drinking bitter(s) about the average human lifestyle..." In addition to this driving, seedy jam -- which will appear on their upcoming Captured Tracks 7" -- The Bitters have releases coming soon on Tic Tac Totally, Art Fag, Sacred Bones, and Plastic Idol, as well as a split cassette with Little Girls. Highly recommended:

This near-perfect lo-fi pop gem from Woods has been in my head for about 72 hours straight at this point, and I think this is actually the b-side (double a-side?) from the group's upcoming 7", which bodes well for everyone involved. The band has upcoming dates with Real Estate, Times New Viking, and Blank Dogs, and you'll also be able to catch them at their handful of shows during SXSW.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Dallas' Parade of Flesh is bringing a handful of SXSW showcasing acts to town on March 22 for the inaugural all-ages South By South Flesh festival at the Lounge in Deep Ellum. The lineup includes WAVVES, Women, Abe Vigoda, the Ohsees, the Coathangers, Vampire Hands, and and more (check the set times here). Tickets are on sale here for only 10 bucks, and Parade of Flesh has also hooked us up with a few tickets to give away. Email us at gorillavsbearcontests@gmail.com if you want a pair, and try to stop by on your way home from TX.